Emison's Freshman Flashback Story
by BrittzandTana
Summary: A compilation of every flashback from my story "Can't You See Me", IN ORDER! Read as a recap, a prequel, or just a mostly fluffy little story :) (MY PRESENT TO YOU ALL :D) Rated M for mildish content ;P EMISON! EMILY/ALISON! Freshmen!Emison - CYSM!Emison AU! Check out my story "Can't You See Me" to find out what happens after freshmen year ;) XX
1. October

**A/N: Hey everyone! I know what you're thinking "Is this the new Emison story that Tana said she was posting since she just ended Can't You See Me?" Well, the answer is no... I WILL post the new Emison story, but first, this is a little present I have for all of my Can't You See Me readers... actually, it's a present for everyone. The great thing about what I've done here is that... well..**

**I took every flashback from CYSM and combined them, putting them in order. I didn't use dates, but I used MM/YY dates, and each chapter will be a different months, and the flashbacks are all in order. The greatest part is, you DO NOT NEED TO HAVE READ CYSM TO READ THIS! It's a perfect little fluffy fic to read when you're bored, or CYSM readers can use it to recap and fill in all the little blanks without having to look at every chapter of CYSM to find the right flash back :)**

**So, I hope that you enjoy this present. You all deserve it after how amazing you've been to me. I love you all so much :)**

**I don't own the characters, but I do own the story that this is a sort of prequel to... Check out Can't You See Me if you haven't already :)**

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><p><strong>October 2010<strong>

Alison twisted her hands together, before checking herself in the mirror one more time. It was Friday—a week before Halloween. Swim practice had been canceled, and as Alison and Emily had been walking home, they had decided to meet at Emily's house to hang out after showering off from school at home.

Alison had no idea why things suddenly felt so different. Why looking at Emily made her smile—more than usual. She had a feeling, but she had no idea what Emily's take on the situation would be. What if Emily didn't feel any different?

It didn't matter, though, because Alison had no intention of saying anything about this new feeling she had.

Alison convinced her brother to drive her to Emily's house, because it was either that or walk through the cool air. Emily liked to bike everywhere, but Alison avoided bicycles like the plague. Plus, they always got her all sweaty. Though, Emily sweaty never really bothered Alison.

"Hey!" Alison exclaimed, bursting into Emily's bedroom. The brunette looked up at her with a smile.

"So guess what?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do I really have to guess?"

Emily shook her head. "You suck at guessing, so no. Coach emailed me and said that she cancelled practice so that she could reevaluate the team," Emily admitted.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Alison asked.

"It means that I might be able to anchor on Tuesday's meet!" Emily exclaimed, grinning.

"If she doesn't pick you to anchor, I'm going to have a throw down with her," Alison threatened, "because you deserve it way more than those seniors."

Emily smiled. "So, wanna watch a movie?"

They decided on a movie to watch, but Alison spent most of it trying to ignore her random urge to grab Emily's hands and hold them tightly. Ignore it—and resist it.

After the movie, Emily asked if she wanted to watch another, and Alison came up with an excuse not to.

Then, after some thought, she asked Emily, "So, do you want to go to a haunted house with me tomorrow?"

"What? No way! I hate those things," Emily rejected.

"Emily… Come on, I promise that you'll have fun," Alison pleaded, smiling a hopeful smile at her best friend. Sure, Alison was confident that she could convince Emily to do anything, but that didn't mean that those things wouldn't take some pleading. "Em, it's not going to even be that scary!"

"Maybe not to you," Emily muttered, shaking her head. There was no way that she was going to any spooky Halloween parties or haunted houses. She hated Halloween, because she hated how freaked out she always got. Even if Alison was going to be there, Emily had a feeling that her best friend would just try to scare her even more.

"Emily," Alison whined, pouting her already so adorable lips. "You can't make me go alone or I'll get scared."

"Then we both won't go. We can stay home and watch funny scary movies and laugh instead of scream," Emily reasoned, though she knew it was in vain. She couldn't say no to Alison, not without feeling horribly bad, anyway.

"Please," Alison begged, grabbing Emily's hands and squeezing them. Emily let out a sigh as her eyes naturally rolled at her best friend.

"Fine," she agreed. "Why is the haunted house tomorrow, though? Halloween isn't until next week."

"Well obviously, it's tomorrow so that we can still go trick-or-treating next week," Alison answered, releasing Emily's hands.

"Do we even want to go trick-or-treating? Do freshmen even still do that?" Emily asked. Being new to high school, she still wasn't sure what exactly was no longer a "high-school thing".

"Of course they do. It's an excuse for everyone to stuff their face with candy and to scare little kids," Alison reasoned. "It'll be just as fun as it was when we were littler, except now, the people passing out candy will actually give us the big chocolate bars since we're in high school."

Emily just smiled. "Whatever you want, Ali."

Alison smiled proudly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Emily."

That night, Alison found herself crawling into her bed and wishing that her hands were still wrapped around Emily's. It hadn't ever really occurred to her how soft Emily's hands could be—maybe even softer than her own. It actually scared her a little bit, to feel the way she felt herself starting to feel… in fact, it scared her a hell of a lot more than a little bit. She was terrified.

Saturday found Alison at Emily's house at eight in the morning, shaking her awake. A groan emitted from Emily. "What the heck, Ali?"

"Get up! We have to go buy costumes for the haunted house tonight!" Alison exclaimed, as though it were obvious.

"How the hell did you get in here this early on a Saturday?" Emily muttered, sitting up as Alison sat herself down on the end of Emily's bed.

"Your mom gave me a key weeks ago, Em," Alison answered, smirking. "Now, get up and get dressed, we need to go shopping!"

"How do you suppose we do that?" Emily questioned. "Need I remind you that we still can't drive?"

Alison's expression fell as she sighed. "You make a valid point. Do you think your mom will get up and take us to the mall?"

Emily gave Alison an "are you serious?" look. "Have you met my mother?" Emily grumbled. "She hates Halloween even more than I do." Alison sighed and collapsed backwards across Emily's bed.

"We have to dress up. It's a Halloween Haunted House," Alison groaned, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"What did you want to dress up as?"

Alison thought for a second, and then she smirked. "I saw a Black Widow costume online the other day. I could probably pull it off, even though I'm not nearly as flawless as Scarlett Johansson." Alison actually had been interested in that costume, though she had mentally labeled it as too obviously sexy. Alison didn't really like drawing too much attention to herself, especially if it meant people would think she was a whore.

"I can see it," Emily teased. "We'll have to call Marvel and tell them we found a perfect Black Widow."

Alison felt her cheeks heat up as she laughed. Her hand rose to one of her warmed, pink cheeks as she sat up. Dropping her hand as she looked to Emily, she sighed. "So what are we going to do for costumes?"

They spent a good portion of the morning going through Emily's wardrobe and turning whatever they could find into costumes. The end results weren't perfect or really anything specific, but they were pretty impressive—considering that they came from Emily's closet.

After their costumes were picked, it was past lunch time and they managed to convince Pam Fields to drop them off at the Grille, with their costumes in bags. That way, they could walk to where the haunted house was whenever they felt like it.

They had lunch and spent the afternoon just walking around the middle of Rosewood and hanging out. When it was time to go to the Haunted House, and it was starting to get dark, they changed into their costumes and headed toward the park where the whole Haunted House was set up.

It was more of a Halloween Carnival with a Haunted House at its center—something that Emily desperately tried to avoid. She dragged Alison to play nearly every carnival game with her in the hopes that it would get late and they wouldn't be able to go to the haunted house. Alison, though, had a different idea. She really wanted to go into the haunted house at least once and, of course, she wouldn't go without Emily by her side. After much arguing and batting of eyelashes, Alison finally got Emily to tag along with her into the haunted house.

Emily full on braced herself as she walked into the Haunted House, Alison by her side. It started off silent, which Emily recognized as not a good thing. Only a few steps in, she began to hear creepy noises coming from around them as they followed the directed path. Light were flashing, revealing that the setup was actually intended to look like an old, creaky, haunted house. That did nothing to ease Emily's fear.

She wasn't sure when she had started shaking, but she did know that whenever it was that Alison took her hand, she stopped. After about ten minutes of slowly making their way around fake dead bodies and skeletons and ghosts and trying to ignore the creepy sounds of witches laughing and people screaming, Emily was sure that it was almost over. They opened a door into another room that was brightly lit, and as soon as they closed the door, the lights went off completely.

Emily, in complete honesty, was terrified, and gasped so loudly that it may well have been a scream. She had no idea which way out was as Alison started to lead her into the room. "Come on, Em, it's not that scary. It's just a dark room."

They heard spooky wind sounds, like ghosts almost, and Emily clenched her jaw to try and keep herself from whimpering. Nevertheless, Alison noticed that Emily was so scared, and suddenly, she was being pulled toward what she presumed to be the side of the room. Once they stopped, Alison took both of Emily's hands in her own, like she had the previous day.

Emily could barely see Alison's lips move as she started to talk. "Don't be so scared. None of it is real."

"I know," Emily muttered, "but it's still terrifying."

"What about it is so bad?" Alison wondered out of her pure curiosity and the hope that she could somehow make this less scary for her best friend.

"I don't know. Not having any control over what's going on, I guess," Emily admitted, looking around in the darkness and wondering if anyone else was around. Not that it would matter, though. No one at Rosewood High really even knew that Emily or Alison existed.

"Sometimes it's good when we don't have any control," Alison said slowly, suddenly aware of how close her body was to Emily's. They weren't even an arms length from one another.

"No, I think it sucks to not be in control," Emily argued. "You have no control over how you feel, or how you react, or what anyone else does. What bothers me the most is the first one, though. I don't have any control over how I feel when I'm scared or how I display how I feel. Maybe it's just because I hate feeling lame because I'm scared."

"I don't think you're lame," Alison whispered, smiling and pulling Emily slightly closer to her. Now, their fronts were almost completely touching, and Emily noticed the proximity as well. Instead of making her any sort of uncomfortable, though, she felt her breath quicken its pace. "Plus, I promise you that you secretly love to not be in control."

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked.

And that's when it happened. Emily felt soft, warm lips press softly and tentatively to her own, and her eyes flickered closed by instinct. Emily moved her lips back against Alison's slowly, and that seemed to tell Alison that this was okay. The blonde pushed her body completely against Emily's, giving them both tingles even though they were completely clothed. Alison's arms wrapped around Emily's waist and fiercely moved her lips against the brunette's.

Emily had felt her friendship with Alison evolving, but she hadn't thought about what it would feel like to do this. She tried to kiss Alison back as firmly as Alison was kissing her, but then the blonde poked her tongue out of her mouth and into Emily's. Emily was not in control at all, and she couldn't have cared less. All that mattered in that moment was Alison and Alison's hands on Emily's body.

And for the first time in her life, Emily felt strangely whole.

For the first time ever, but definitely not the last, Emily let herself be taken over by Alison DiLaurentis in their kiss. In that dark room in the middle of the haunted house.

For the first time, Emily felt a feeling in her chest like she was falling, but in the best way possible.

Like maybe, she was falling in love.

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><p><strong>The following chapters will have no ANs, because I'm posting them all at once. I hope you all enjoy :) Drop a review or send me a PM if you feel like it? :)**


	2. November

**November 2010**

"Do you really think they'll split up?" Emily asked, her voice as soft as it always was when she was speaking to Alison. Her fingers were combing through thick, curly, beautiful, blond hair. Alison's head was laying on Emily's lap, and they were huddled together in Alison's room. It was early November, and already quite cold out. Jessica DiLaurentis had just prepared for them hot chocolate, but neither girl had been in the mood for it after Alison filled Emily in on the latest problems with her family.

"They're living in two different houses," Alison muttered, sniffing. "I don't think there's even a doubt about it now."

"Maybe he'll come around," Emily tried, but she knew that nothing she could say would convince Alison to disbelieve the truth. And the truth was that Mr. and Mrs. DiLaurentis were splitting up—and a divorce was soon to come.

"Doubt it," Alison muttered, her voice suddenly sounding colder. "He couldn't care less about her, or me, at this point."

Emily's heart clenched at hearing Alison sound so bitter and yet heartbroken about her dad, and she carefully combed her fingers through Alison's hair again, gently scratching her scalp. Alison, laying in one of her most favorite positions, let her eyes flicker closed as she enjoyed the feeling. While she really was wrecked by her father officially moving out, laying here with Emily made her feel much better. Finally, Emily spoke. "I think he's stupid for leaving you behind."

Alison couldn't help the gentle smile that split from her frown. "We should go swimming."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "It's cold outside."

"Not in an outdoor pool, Em," Alison said, playfully rolling her eyes as she sat up from her position. Emily suddenly missed the warmth of Alison's hair over her lap. "At the nat."

"Can someone even get in there on a Saturday?" Emily questioned.

Alison shrugged. "The seniors are always talking about swimming there on Saturdays. The school is unlocked on weekends, isn't it?"

Emily shrugged. "How are we going to get there? I don't want to walk in the cold."

"Jason can drive us," Alison volunteered her brother, smiling. "Mom says that he owes me a ride anyway."

Fifteen minutes later found Emily and Alison pushing through the open natatorium doors. The place was dark and empty, but after turning on the lights, slipping into swim suits, and getting into the tepid water, it didn't feel any different than swimming on a school day.

Emily cut through the crystal clear water easily, and Alison stopped to watch her. Once Emily broke out of her swim though, and looked to the blonde, Alison just smiled. "Why do they call it a natatorium anyway?"

Emily couldn't help but smile. She liked it when Alison asked random questions like that. "It's comes from the Latin root word."

Alison raised her eyebrows. "I can't believe that you just know that off of the top of your head."

"French does come from Latin you know?" Emily said, rolling her eyebrows playfully at her best friend, who swam closer to her.

"French class is so boring. I can't believe we got stuck in different class periods. It would be so much more fun if you were in it. I literally have to sit there for an hour and endure Mona Vanderwaal discussing French fashion with the teacher," Alison griped, grimacing and shaking her head. "It's hell."

"The only reason you're even in French is because you want to go to Paris," Emily reminded her best friend, smirking.

"Don't you want to go to Paris?" Alison countered, widening her eyes slightly as she said the capital of France in French. She batted her eyelashes at Emily. "With me?"

Emily smiled and gave into her instincts as she leaned forward and captured Alison's lips in her own. Alison immediately seemed to melt as she pressed her submerged body against Emily's. They hadn't kissed again since Halloween, but now, it felt much more natural, as though it were the most instinctual thing for one of them to kiss the other.

When Emily pulled away, she smiled softly at Alison. "I would love to go to Paris with you."

**November 2010**

"Emily, I told you, we're going to see your aunt for Thanksgiving since she can't come up here to see us," Pam insisted to her daughter, who gave her a pleading look. Emily had already promised Alison that she would go to her house for Thanksgiving.

"Mom, Alison needs me right now," Emily insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Her parents are splitting up! I'm lucky to have you and dad as parents, and she's not that lucky to have parents that love each other like you two do. You have to let me stay and be here for her."

Pam's eyes searched her daughter's face, and then she let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine, you can stay here. Go upstairs and pack everything you need to stay there for three days, because I'm setting the alarm in here and that means no running back here while I'm gone."

"Thank you, mom!" Emily said, smiling widely and hurrying upstairs to get her stuff, which she had honestly already packed up. Yes, she had to do a little schmoozing in order to stay in Rosewood for these few days. It wasn't like Emily really wanted to go see her aunt anyway. If it were her dad, she would've been willing to leave, but not for her aunt.

Things between her and Alison had been quite strange lately. Or, not strange exactly, just different. They were always getting lost in each other's eyes, or smiling shy smiles every now and then. Their relationship was changing from best friend to… more. Emily was definitely not upset about it. Scared, yes, but not upset. Emily had always known that she wasn't really like the majority of girls—she'd never even had a crush on a guy before. Alison, however… Emily would never have guessed that she would be gay or…

Another part that was strange—they hadn't had a single conversation about what this was. They hadn't talked about their sexual orientations, though that could be more understandable. The worst part was that they hadn't discussed what they were doing. The kissing, the flirting that had started happening as well. The longing looks and the sudden need to be hanging out away from their homes and from school. Emily almost felt like one of the stereotypical teenagers that adults always claimed "snuck around with their boyfriends"… only, Emily didn't have a boyfriend. She had Alison.

Ten minutes later, Pam dropped Emily off at the DiLaurentis house. Emily gave her mom a simple goodbye, and then she was out the car door, her bag in hand and walking straight into her second home. That's what Alison's house was to her, anyway.

It was weird coming in here lately, though, without Mr. DiLaurentis around. Emily tried not to let it bother her, since she knew that it was already bothering Alison, and gave a wave to Mrs. DiLaurentis in the kitchen before rushing upstairs. Alison's door was wide open, so Emily just walked in. Her best friend was sitting with her legs crossed on her bed, reading a book.

"Hey," Emily chirped, getting Alison's attention. The blonde immediately grinned, closing her book and setting it aside.

"Your mom said yes?" Alison gathered, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course. Who could say no to my face?" Emily joked, setting her bag down on the floor and closing Alison's door. That had become habit lately—in the past month, they had kissed more and more often after their last two tentative ones. Door closing was starting to get important.

"You make a valid point," Alison agreed, fluttering her eyelashes at Emily from across the room, as if asking her to come sit next to her. Emily joined Alison, sitting a short distance away from her on the bed.

"Three days," Emily said, grinning, and then collapsing unceremoniously onto her best friend, who fell back against her pillow.

"Emily," Alison groaned, trying to push Emily off of her. Smiling to herself, Emily put all of her weight onto her best friend, who eventually gave up and just went limp under Emily's deadweight. The blonde huffed, but almost immediately after, her fingers tangled into Emily's hair and started brushing through it. Emily found herself adjusting into a more comfortable position and curling up further into the blonde.

"Ali…" Emily started, trying to gather courage to say what she wanted to… or really, what she needed to.

"What's up?" Alison asked, her voice soft and distracted sounding as she combed through Emily's dark hair. Emily didn't say anything for a second, instead closing her eyes and letting herself shiver as Alison's nails gently scratched her scalp.

"I think we should… we should talk about… about us," Emily said quietly. Alison's fingers stilled suddenly, and Emily felt her stomach twist inside her a little bit.

Only second later, though, the blonde's fingers continued their movements and Alison agreed softly, "Okay."

They laid there quietly for about a minute, Alison's fingers still just scratching against Emily's head as she touched her hair. Finally, though, Emily pulled away from their comfortable position and sat up, facing her best friend, who sat up as well. "You're my best friend, Alison."

Alison blinked. "And you're my best friend."

Emily took a shaky breath—she wasn't really sure how she was supposed to say what she needed to. "What… what are we doing?" Alison frowned. "I'm not asking because I… because I don't want to do it or anything. I just… wanna know that we're on the same page."

Alison reached forward and grabbed Emily's hands. The voice she spoke in next was the softest Emily had ever heard her speak. Softer than what Emily imagined sitting on a solid cloud would be like. "I like the way this feels." A pause, and Alison leaned forward to press her lips against Emily's. Both of their bodies ignited at the feeling, and when Alison pulled away, they didn't break their gaze from each other's eyes. "I like the way that feels."

"So do I," Emily admitted, her voice small.

"So, we're on the same page," Alison whispered, smiling slightly.

Emily still wasn't so sure. "Ali… my mom would kill me…" She stopped talking as she felt Alison squeeze both of her hands with her own.

"We don't have to tell anybody, Em. Not until we both know that it's safe to tell," Alison insisted. "Emily, this is the strongest I've ever felt for someone. I don't want to lose this."

Emily nodded. "Neither do I."

There was suddenly a knock on the door, and Emily immediately jumped, pulling her hands away form Alison, who immediately glared at the door. "What?" she called to her mom.

"I have to run to the store. Do you girls need anything?" came Jessica's voice.

"No," they both called at once.

"Okay, I'll be back in an hour," Jessica told them, and they heard her foot steps receding. Alison and Emily looked back at one another, and almost by immediate and silent agreement, their lips came together in a fiery clash. First, their lips merged perfectly into each other, and then, Alison's tongue poked out of her mouth and dragged gently along Emily's lower lip. Not hesitating for a second, Emily parted her lips and moved her tongue so as to let it clash with Alison's. Clash, yes, but also twist and dance. It was practically magic.

Emily wasn't entirely sure when it was that she began to push Alison backwards, but she was completely aware when she found herself straddling the blonde. She pulled away from Alison for a moment, flipped a bit of hair out of her face, and then met her lips again. Now, their magical kiss, while still every bit as magic, became an epic battle. Emily felt every square inch of her skin burning, especially as Alison's hands slipped under her shirt and scratched over her skin. Emily bit down gently on Alison's lower lip, and the blonde released a moan—a sound Emily had never heard her best friend make before.

Every part of Emily's mind was screaming at her to do something she'd never done before, but she suddenly found herself freezing up. She pulled up off of Alison suddenly and had to turn around on the bed, looking in an other direction as she heard Alison's heavy breathing slowly even out.

Alison didn't say anything, but she sat up slowly and gently touched Emily's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I… I'm not ready…"

"Okay," Alison said softly, dragging her hand down Emily's arm to her elbow, tugging on it lightly until Emily turned to face her. The brunette looked embarrassed. Alison just smiled and lifted her hand to brush a bit of hair out of Emily's face. "I don't think I'm ready, either."

Emily seemed to relax when she heard that, and Alison was happy to have calmed her. Still, Emily didn't say anything.

Alison spoke again, "Emily, I don't know what to define us as. But I do know that you're more just my best friend, and I've never had feelings for someone like this. I want to see where this will go with you."

"What if we end up ruining our friendship?" Emily asked in a small voice, because even though she wanted this so badly, that one thought had been tugging at her. Alison smiled.

"I won't let that happen, Em. We're always going to be best friends."

After dinner that night, Emily and Alison both got ready for bed, changing into comfy pajamas. After Emily was ready, she climbed into Alison's bed and under the warm covers. She had a designated pillow at Alison's house and, considering how often she spent the nights there, it wasn't that peculiar. As soon as she laid her head down, Emily felt tiredness come over her. After the emotions she'd trekked through earlier, her head was in an exhausted state. She heard Alison come into the room from the bathroom, and the lights flickered off.

Emily was facing away from Alison's side of the bed, and she felt herself tense slightly as she felt the mattress sink slightly when Alison laid down. She still felt slightly embarrassed about her freaking out earlier, and though she was almost positive that Alison couldn't care less about it, she was still worried.

Her worries slipped away in seconds, though, when Emily felt Alison's arms encircle her waist. The blonde pulled Emily's body closer to her, until she was pretty much just spooning her. Emily let out a content sigh as she relaxed into her best friend. Alison placed a small kiss on Emily's neck and then said, "Goodnight, Emily."

"Goodnight, Ali," Emily returned softly, already feeling herself fall asleep.

Alison woke up with sun in her eyes from her window. Letting out a quiet groan, she pulled her arms out from around her best friend and forced herself up out of bed. She brushed her crazy, curly hair out of her face as she looked out the window. The sun was shining pretty brightly for a November morning. Across the yard, Alison could see the window of the neighbor's house. Spencer Hastings lived over there—Alison didn't really know her. And, Spencer didn't really know Alison. Then again, nobody did—aside from Emily.

Alison dragged her curtains over the window, and the light that had been shining through all but disappeared. She crept back over to her bed and got back in with Emily. The brunette stirred as Alison made herself comfortable again.

Emily turned over and her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Did I wake you up?" Alison whispered, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Emily shook her head. Her voice was sleepy as she asked, "Why'd you get up?"

"Window," Alison answered, smiling a shy smile. "Did you sleep well?"

Emily nodded. "Happy Thanksgiving."

Alison grinned. "You know what I'm thankful for?" Emily just smiled a little wider, waiting for Alison to just tell her. "I'm thankful that you're my best friend."

Emily didn't say anything as she stared at her best friend. She couldn't help but wonder what would become of this thing they were doing. On one hand, she could picture every aspect of her future with Alison in it—yet, she could picture them falling back into normal places as best friends as well.

"What?" Alison asked, her voice sounding shy and flustered, and Emily realized it was likely because she'd been staring. A smile immediately appeared on Emily's face.

"Nothing," Emily insisted.

"Alison! Emily!" came Jessica's call. Alison groaned, dragging herself up and off of the bed for the second time that morning. Emily just sat up, running her fingers through her slightly tangled hair.

"What?" Alison called down to her mother.

The proceeded to be called downstairs to help prepare the turkey—which would take all day to cook. Once the preparing was done—it took maybe twenty minutes tops—Jessica DiLaurentis made them some hot chocolate and told them to get some fresh air.

They spent their day in Alison's backyard, laying on the grass and wishing that it would snow. Talking about all sorts of different things. They didn't get bored at all—they were best friends after all.

During Thanksgiving dinner later that night, they didn't stop to give thanks for anything. Emily knew that it hadn't ever been a tradition in Alison's household, but it had been in Emily's, and she found herself listing all of the things that she was thankful for in her head.

Her parents.

Mrs. DiLaurentis.

Swimming.

Alison.

Mostly Alison—especially as of late. Emily had not a single idea of what her life would be like without her best friend by her side through it all.

Later that night, Emily found herself unable to think of anything but Alison—and the night before. She found herself zoned out, sitting on Alison's bed while the other girl was in the bathroom.

Alison noticed Emily's deep thought as soon as she reentered the room. "Em? You okay?"

Emily blinked, looking over at the blonde and forcing a smile. Nodding, she said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"What about?" Alison wondered, flipping off the lights and crawling into to be next to Emily. They both curled into the blankets and faced each other.

"You," Emily admitted, smiling.

Alison felt her cheeks flush slightly red, but luckily, Emily wouldn't be able to see it in the dark. Her cheeks got even more flushed, though, when she found herself asking Emily, "Can we cuddle again?"

A grin spread over Emily's face, and she and Alison cuddled together contently and drifted off to sleep.


	3. December

**December 2010**

"My mom is going to be out all night," Alison said through the phone. Emily's eyes widened slightly at the thought that immediately popped into her mind. Yes, her make-out sessions with Alison had recently started to get more heated every time they occurred, but only over the last couple of days had Emily even considered the thought of going further with her best friend. And something told the brunette that Alison was thinking the exact same way. "So do you want to come over?"

"Of course," Emily answered, biting back a grin. "I'll be there in a few."

Emily's mom didn't question anything as Emily announced that she was going to Alison's to stay the night. Emily didn't even need to pack anything—she'd left a lot of stuff at Alison's house intentionally over Thanksgiving so that she didn't ever have to worry about not having clothes and things.

Emily biked through the cold over to Alison's house. The blonde was pretty much already waiting for her at the door when Emily arrived.

They heated up some food for dinner and then went up to Alison's room, where they first just talking about whatever came to their minds for a little while. Emily ended up in one of her favorite positions—her head laying over Alison's lap. Alison was twirling Emily's hair slowly, and scratching her short nails against her scalp. They were both unspeaking.

Finally, Alison spoke. "Emily…"

"Yes?" Emily asked, her voice soft.

"I just… want to make sure that you know how much I care about you," Alison said softly. Emily opened her eyes and looked up at Alison, smiling.

"I do know," Emily promised, before sitting up and pressing her lips gently against Alison's. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

While Emily was in the bathroom, Alison took the time to gather the courage she needed to do what she really wanted to do. She got up off of her bed and, as Emily walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her, Alison intercepted her with her lips. Emily immediately let out an involuntary moan at the suddenness of the kiss. Alison took complete control over both of them, pinning Emily up against the door.

Her hands dropped to Emily's midsection, and Emily's hands were desperately trying to pull Alison impossibly closer to her. Their lips fought intensely, and Alison kept up her state of dominance. Her hands dropped to Emily's ass and squeezed it, getting another moan from the brunette.

As Emily's hands got tangled into Alison's hair, the blonde took the liberty of grasping the rim of Emily's shirt and pulling it upwards. Emily didn't hesitate to help her pull it off, even though it required their lips to separate momentarily, because her skin was burning and she didn't want the fabric against it anymore.

Emily's black bra now completely revealed, Alison lowered her lips to Emily's neck, kissing and sucking gently down the skin in the crest between Emily's breasts—the only part of them that was currently exposed. Emily's skin was burning even more now, with Alison's lips and tongue against it. She hastily pulled Alison's face back up to hers, and their lips collided again. Taking dominance, the brunette pushed the blonde back away from the wall and toward her bed. She pushed Alison down onto the blankets and back against the pillows.

Alison, wanting desperately to be in control of this situation, managed to flip them around so that she was straddling Emily. Their lips disconnected as Alison sat up to tear her own shirt off. She rejoined their lips , and their bra-enclosed breasts bumped against one another as their teeth and tongues clashed between them.

As Alison fumbled with the clasp of Emily's bra, her thigh slipped naturally in between Emily's thighs, and the brunette gasped as it touched against her center. Emily had never imagined that Alison could make her feel so good—and she knew that this definitely wasn't over yet.

Her bra was gone in seconds, and finally—Alison hesitated. She was straddling Emily still, whose chest was rising and falling at incredibly speeds. Alison looked down at her best friend's bare chest, and wanted to touch it, but she hesitated.

Emily's eyes flickered open and looked up at Alison.

"Are we going too fast?" Alison asked, her voice small.

Emily could think of nothing else but the darkened blue eyes she was staring into, aware that her own pupils must be blown by now. Shaking her head she reached up and brushed some hair out of Alison's face. "I've never felt this good before, Ali."

Alison nodded, regaining her courage, and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Emily's lips. Their fast beating hearts didn't let the kiss stay soft and gentle for long, though, and soon they were back to making out, and Alison finally allowed herself to kiss her way back down to Emily's breasts. She first placed soft kisses around the bases of them, but Emily hands were tangling into her thick, blonde hair, pulling on it slightly, and encouraging Alison to continue on.

As soon as Alison's tongue flickered out against one of her nipples, Emily's eyes rolled practically entirely back into her head. Alison's lips encased the entire nipple, and simultaneously, Emily's lips released a low moan. Her body curved up into Alison's, and it was then that she realized that the blonde's breasts were still enclosed in a bra.

As soon as Alison released Emily's nipple from her lips, the brunette pulled Alison back up to her lips and then unclasped the unnecessary piece of clothing from the blonde, tossing it aside. Their naked breasts now bumped against one another, and Emily felt goose-bumps rising on her burning skin.

Emily's hands were all along Alison's body, over her abs for one moment and then to her ass, up to the middle of her back. She couldn't get enough to her body. Finally, she hooked her fingers in the belt loops of Alison's jeans, pulling them down. Alison wiggled her ass so as to get the jeans off, and then kicked them away and off of the bed. Emily felt Alison unbuttoning her pants almost immediately after, and the found themselves almost completely exposed to one another.

Neither of them had any intention of stopping at this point, and Alison was determined to lose her virginity tonight to her best friend—the girl she was falling in deep with. She was also determined, maybe even more so than the former, to take her best friend's virginity.

Her thigh slipped back in between Emily's, and this time she intentionally brought it up against Emily's center. As the brunette let out an immediate moan of pleasure, Alison noticed how damp Emily's underwear was. It only furthered her determination, of course, and she quickly slipped her thumbs into the edges of the panties, pulling them off of the girl and throwing them aside.

Emily was wiggling under her as Alison finally placed her fingers against Emily's core. Emily's emotions and feelings were all over the place as Alison touched her. She couldn't think of anything except for the way Alison was making her feel. Her heart rate was increasing by a tenfold, and she heard herself whimpering and moaning—felt herself squirming. Alison was determined enough to drive Emily up to climax, and so she did.

Emily felt her chest rising and falling faster than it ever had, but she felt her breathing evening out. Alison was laying next to Emily, her hand resting on the brunette's toned stomach and her fingers drawing invisible shapes against the skin there. "I…" Emily wasn't even sure that she had the words to describe how she was feeling.

Instead of trying to think of them, she lifted herself up and straddled the blonde, who looked honestly surprised. Emily didn't even hesitate as she dove for Alison's lips, then her neck, and then her breasts.

Alison gripped Emily's hair in her fists as the brunette sucked mercilessly on her nipple. The blonde felt her entire body igniting as Emily began to suck on her skin, down from her breasts to her abs. As Emily sucked intensely on one spot on Alison's abs, her hands made it their mission to remove Alison's panties.

Alison was astounded at how much braver Emily was than she had been, especially when Emily began to kiss lower and lower on Alison's body, until she was kissing Alison's center. Alison's breathing was getting quicker and quicker, and she knew that her pupils must be huge. She was moaning and arching herself into Emily, without even noticing, and then let out a whimper when she finally reached her maximum.

She felt Emily next to her, wrapping her arms around her protectively. "Emily," Alison breathed out. The brunette was gently dragging her fingers along Alison's beautiful, naked body. They stopped on her abs, when she noticed that she had accidentally marked them.

"Whoops," Emily said softly, and Alison looked down to see what she was talking about. She just felt happier at knowing that Emily had marked her. "I didn't mean to… sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Alison breathed out, pulling Emily even closer to her and burying her face into Emily's messy, post-sex hair. "Nobody could ever make me feel as good as you just made me feel."

"Well, that is because I am an Alison DiLaurentis expert," Emily whispered softly, still gently stroking Alison's body. "You are beautiful, by the way. In case I've never said it before."

Alison pulled her face from Emily's hair so as to meet her gaze. "Emily… I think that I'm falling in love with you."

"I think that I am, too," Emily admitted, her voice soft. Admitting that out loud was terrifying, but at the same time, it felt amazing to tell Alison that, because it was true. "You make me feel every good emotion there is, Ali."

Alison, feeling extremely tired by now, curled into her best friend, tangling their legs together. Emily maintained a strong embrace with the blonde, and they fell asleep entangled as one being rather than two.

**December 2010**

"So, what do you want for Christmas?" Emily asked the blonde as she entered Alison's room. Alison looked up from her phone and her face lit up.

"What do you want for Christmas?" she asked right back. Emily just gave her a pointed look, only to receive a sly look. "I don't know, Em. You don't have to get me anything."

"Seriously?" Emily demanded. "We always get each other presents for Christmas, Ali. Now fess up and tell me what you want, because you're not getting out of this."

Alison felt her heart fluttering, because Emily never failed to make her feel so incredibly special. "I really don't know, Emily. You could give me a rock for Christmas and I'd be happy with it."

"Okay, a rock it is," Emily teased, rolling her eyes and getting another smile from the blonde.

"You're in a good mood today," Alison commented, lifting her hand and combing it through Emily's hair casually. The smile spread over the brunette's face couldn't help but widen.

"Yep! So, back to presents…?" Emily continued to stare pointedly at Alison, willing her to answer. Alison, seriously not knowing what she wanted, finally decided on an idea.

"How about you completely surprise me, and I'll completely surprise you?" Alison suggested, quirking up her eyebrows slightly. "It'll be more fun anyway. Plus, it's not like we don't know what each other likes."

"Fine," Emily agreed, seating herself on Alison's bed. "What are you doing?"

"I was just sitting around being completely bored, like I always am when you're not here," Alison answered, leaning forward and stealing a quick kiss from Emily. "But you're here now, so I'm just enjoying the pleasure of your company."

"I really want to go swimming, but they're doing renovations on the pool today and tomorrow for the meet next week," Emily admitted, frowning.

Alison, immediately upset that Emily was upset, searched her mind for some sort of temporary solution. "Well, if you want, we can go make snow angels and build a snowman like we did when we were younger? The snow is getting pretty thick anyway."

Emily immediately smiled, because Alison always seemed to know how to make everything better. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

They escaped the house and went into Alison's backyard, where they threw snow at each other and acted like kids. They both got tired and cold though, and just collapsed into the white, slushy snow. "Em?" Alison called.

"Yep?" Emily questioned.

Alison didn't say anything for a moment, and Emily waited patiently. Finally, though, she started to turn her head to look at the blonde, and was met with a pair of soft lips gently pressing against her own. Emily immediately kissed her back, pushing slightly against Alison and climbing up and on top of her. Their kiss became intense and hot, completely switching their body heat from too cold from snow to hot and bothered.

Emily didn't stop kissing Alison until she realized that her hands riding Alison's shirt up, and she remembered that they were out in her backyard. Even though it wasn't openly visible, they were outside, and Alison's mom could walk outside at any second, or one of then neighbors could look out the window. She pulled off of the blonde carefully, and for a lagged second, she got a look at Alison's flustered face. Her eyes closed, her lips slightly swollen and parted, her skin flushed bright red, either from the cold or the kiss or both. Just looking at her made Emily want to kiss her forever and ever.

**December 2010**

Alison found herself waking up at much too early of a time, her phone going off loudly next to her. Groaning, she grabbed it and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Merry Christmas!" came Emily's cheery voice. It immediately brought a smile to Alison's face, and she couldn't help but feel incredibly happy already.

"Merry Christmas, Em," Alison returned, aware that her voice was low and raspy in the morning. Normally, it would make her feel slightly self conscious, but she knew that Emily couldn't care less. "Why are you up so early?"

"I convinced my mom to get up at what she considers and ungodly hour to open our Christmas presents. She's only going along with it because my dad can't be here, and she's trying to make Christmas awesome for me," Emily answered.

"What's so awesome about waking up at five in the morning?" Alison muttered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well, she knows that I want to see you for Christmas. So we're about to open presents, and then I can come over to your house while you and your mom open presents. That way, I can give you mine in person and visa versa," Emily answered. "And then I'll come back and have Christmas dinner with my mom."

Alison smiled widely. She was more than okay with Emily coming and spending part of Christmas with her, but she was slightly concerned. "Are you sure you don't just want to spend it all with your mom? I mean, she's got to be pretty upset that your dad can't be here."

"Actually, I think she'd rather be by herself for a little bit. That's how she always is when he can't come visit us," Emily admitted, sounding slightly put out. "But it's fine. I'll be over there in a couple of hours. Don't start opening presents without me!"

Alison let out a light laugh. "Em, I probably won't even be awake in a couple of hours. See you later. Merry Christmas."

"See you, Ali," Emily responded, hanging up the call. Alison smiled to herself as she set her phone back down on the side table next to her. She laid her head back down on her pillow and let sleep consume her.

Two and a half hours later, Emily let herself into Alison's house, using the spare key that they had hidden on their porch. She wasn't surprised to see that neither Alison nor Mrs. DiLaurentis were up yet. It was still pretty early.

Making her way upstairs, Emily did her best not to make much noise. Alison's house felt as much of her home as her own house did, and it was never hard to find anything, especially not the big Christmas tree sitting in their living room. Emily placed her present to Alison under the tree, and then proceeded to make her way upstairs to Alison's bedroom. The blonde was sleeping soundly under her blankets, and Emily couldn't keep a smile off of her face.

She slipped off her boots and her coat and made her way to the bed, quietly slipping under the covers behind Alison and wrapping her arms carefully around her. Alison made a slight shift in position, but she didn't wake up. Instead, in her sleep, she seemed to melt into Emily's embrace.

Emily dozed off as she waited for Alison to wake up, but she woke up quickly as she felt Alison begin to stir in her arms. The blonde turned over, and by the time she was facing Emily, her eyes were open. "Hi," she breathed out softly.

"Good morning," Emily returned, smiling.

"It's a little creepy going to bed alone and waking up with someone's arms around you," Alison commented.

"Oh please, you knew that I'd be here when you woke up," Emily insisted, a smile growing onto her face. Alison nodded bashfully that she had known, and Emily pressed their lips together in a soft kiss. A second later, they pulled apart, and Alison rested her hand on Emily's cheek.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered. After a beat, she smirked and asked, "So what did you get me?"

"A rock," Emily deadpanned, before quirking her lips up into a smile. Alison grinned.

"Is it on a ring?" she teased, getting Emily's jaw to drop with surprise.

"It's under your Christmas tree," Emily answered. "You'll have to open it with all the rest of your presents."

"Fine," Alison muttered, pretending to sound upset. "What time is it?"

"Don't know, don't care," Emily answered, curling into the blonde. Alison let out a quiet chuckle and started to run her fingers through Emily's dark hair.

Suddenly, there was a knock on Alison's door. "Alison, honey. Time for Christmas presents. Then I'm going to run to the store for Christmas dinner."

"Okay," Alison called. Emily pulled away slightly to give the blonde a curious look.

"She doesn't sound like herself," she commented.

Alison gave a sad smile. "She's not really feeling Christmas this year. She thinks she has to put up a good front for me. Losing dad… and Jason not coming around anymore… it's all hitting her really hard. I don't really blame her. I mean what do you do after losing someone you've been around for over twenty years?"

"Are you okay?" Emily questioned, raising concerned eyebrows. "I mean, if you're not feeling up for Christmas you could've just told me."

Alison smiled at how sweet Emily was. "I'm fine, Em. I'm just glad that you're here. We should probably get up, though."

Ten minutes later found them finally getting downstairs after dragging each other out of bed. Jessica DiLaurentis looked slightly surprised at seeing Emily. "Emily, I didn't know you were here."

"I came in earlier," she told Alison's mom.

"Well, we're happy to have you join us."

They spent the next half hour exchanging presents—though Emily just spent it watching them open theirs. After they'd opened the ones they'd given each other—and the ones they'd gotten from relatives—Alison's mom claimed that she needed to run to the store and that she wouldn't be back for a couple of hours. She wished them a Merry Christmas, and then she left Emily and Alison alone in the house.

"Alright, so are you ready to open my present to you?" Emily asked, holding the neatly wrapped present in her hands.

"I guess so," Alison answered teasingly. "If it's a rock, I—"

"You'll what?" Emily snapped, her voice playful. "Don't worry, it's not. Open it!"

Alison actually felt herself holding her breath as she tore away the wrapping paper. She exhaled as soon as she saw what was under it. A leather bound journal. It was an off white color, but there was a pattern of black lines covering the entire thing. She couldn't tell if it was supposed to make a shape or not, but she could tell that it was beautiful. "Em, I love it."

"Good," Emily breathed out, as though she had been worried that Alison wouldn't have liked it.

"Now, you have to come upstairs to see the present that I got you," Alison said, grabbing Emily's hand and squeezing it tightly in her own. She led Emily back upstairs, her new journal carried safely in the hand that wasn't holding Emily's. As Alison went to her desk to retrieve Emily's present, she felt slightly nervous. "You're going to think its so boring."

"Doubtful," Emily argued.

"I didn't wrap it and put it under the tree because I didn't want to mess it up," Alison explained as she passed a small gift bag to Emily. Smiling to herself, Emily reached into the bag and retrieved a snow globe. It wasn't just a lame snow globe, though. No, inside of this one was a picture of her and Alison together. It was taken earlier that winter, Emily recalled. Their cheeks were pressed together, their noses slightly reddened with cold.

"I love it," Emily breathed out, before smiling widely at Alison.

"I just wanted to get you something special, and I thought that—"

"Ali," Emily interrupted, "I really do love it."

Alison relaxed a little and sat down next to the brunette. "Good." After a pause, she leaned toward the brunette and pressed her lips firmly to Emily's. Emily's hands immediately released their hold on the snow globe and attached themselves to Alison's waist. After gripping it firmly, she pushed and turned them so that she was straddling Alison at the end of the blonde's bed.

The sound of the snow globe hitting the floor only distracted them for a second, because as soon as they were sure it wasn't broken, their lips were reattached to one another. Alison was tugging Emily's t-shirt up immediately, but Emily didn't want to detach her lips from Alison's body to let her take it off.

Instead, she dragged her lips along Alison's skin and to her neck, sucking on bits of skin that she knew would make Alison let out soft moans. Over the past two months, they had become much more accustomed to each other's bodies, even if they had only actually had sex once.

Once was about to become twice, though, as Alison, giving up on trying to undress Emily, pushed the other girl off of her in order to tear off her tank—revealing a bare chest—and slid off her pants. Emily just stared in awe, before placing her mouth back on Alison's body, licking along her collarbone and down to her breasts as her hands squeezed Alison's thighs.

Alison let out a deep moan as she felt Emily's tongue and lips grip her nipple. She arched up against Emily, her center making contact with Emily's thigh. The temporary relief of Emily grinding her thigh into Alison was just that—temporary. Alison needed Emily to touch her.

"Em," she moaned out. Emily detached her lips from Alison's body and sat up slightly, tearing off her top and discarding her bra. And finally, as Alison scooted herself all the way back on her bed, Emily attached her lips softly to Alison's, and lowered her hand into Alison's wet underwear.

The blonde let out a gasp and a moan at feeling Emily slip inside of her, and she felt her eyes roll upwards. She felt her tension building and then, after what could have been seconds or hours—it felt all the same to Alison—all of it released as Emily brought her to climax.

Going limp under Emily, she let out a shaky sigh. Her breathing remained uneven as Emily pulled her hand out of Alison's underwear.

When Alison could finally breath normally, she curled into Emily, who was now laying beside her. "I wish my mom could just stay at the store all day," Alison muttered. She wanted to make Emily feel just as good as she now felt, but if she was being honest, she was suddenly extremely tired.

"If you want, I can come back tonight," Emily suggested. Alison raised her eyes to look at the brunette questioningly.

"Thought you were having dinner with your mom," Alison said.

"I am. Doesn't mean I can't come back after," Emily stated, shrugging.

"Will she let you?"

Emily quirked up an eyebrow. "Does she have to know?"


	4. January

**January 2011**

"What are we doing?" Emily asked, her voice naturally hushed as Alison pulled her along the flattened leaves. Said leaves, covering the cold, muddy ground, looked as though they'd been walked on recently. Emily couldn't help but wonder if Alison had been the one to flatten them.

"I told you, it's a surprise," Alison insisted. A week into the new year, a day before school would start up for them again, and Alison was insisting that Emily follow her to some unknown location in the middle of the woods. Emily would have been terrified if anyone else was insisting that, but Emily could never be scared of Alison.

"It's really dark, Ali," Emily muttered, looking around at her surroundings. The air it self seemed black as pitch, because Emily couldn't even make out the shapes of the leaves on the trees she was walking past. Then, a warmth spread through Emily's entire body as Alison took her hand. She hadn't noticed, but they had stopped walking.

"We're fine, Em, I promise." Alison's voice was so soft and comforting that Emily felt her head nod instantly, and then they were walking again.

Reaching their supposed destination, Alison stopped them a few minutes later and fumbled for something in her pockets. She retrieved a small flashlight, which she clicked on and shone ahead of her.

It was a tree, standing alone in the center of what seemed to be a clearing. "What…?" Emily didn't finish her question as Alison also pulled out a pocket knife—a lot like the one that Emily's dad had. She wasn't sure when Alison had gotten one.

Alison got closer to the tree, and the light illuminated it more and more until Emily realized what it was. She'd heard about it before at school, from some of the upperclassmen.

The entire bark of the tree, stretching from taller than any high school student and to the very ground, was covered in hearts filled with names or initials. "Whoa," Emily muttered in awe. "How did you find it?"

"I heard some people talking about it during swim before break, and I heard the general location. I've been looking for it for a while, but I found it last night," Alison answered. "I don't know how anybody finds it. It's like a legend almost, passed along by word of mouth and somehow, everyone finds it eventually."

"What are we going to put on it? Our initials?" Emily wondered, raising an eyebrow. Alison quirked one of her own and smiled.

"Nobody ever reads these, and nobody even knows our names, Emily," Alison said, smiling a smile that made Emily light up naturally. "I'll write my name and you right yours."

After somehow managing to find a reachable area of bark that had enough room for their names, Alison began to carve hers into it. By the time she was done, it read "Alison +". Emily took the pocket knife from her best friend and added under it, in as neat of carved handwriting as she could, "Emily". She proceeded to encapsulate the whole statement in a heart, which was surprisingly neat in the end.

They stared at their little piece of the tree, and Emily couldn't help but wonder whether or not someone would ever see it. She found herself not feeling at all scared at the prospect of someone seeing it, though, only a sense of pride. That she and Alison had been brave enough to put their names up on a tree where somebody might see it. And even if she was scared of what could happen if everybody knew about her and Alison, Emily didn't feel scared in this moment. Not even a little.

**January 2011**

Emily stared down at her lined paper, doodling little shapes over it. A heart here, a star there. She doodled out her own name once or twice, and she hardly thought twice as she began to write out Alison's name in big cursive. She loved Alison's name. It just felt more eloquent and smooth sounding than the name "Emily". Plus, it looked much prettier on paper.

"Miss Fields, do you care to tell us the answer that you seem to be so busily scrawling out?" the teacher snapped from the front of the classroom in a stern voice. Emily immediately looked up, her eyes wide.

"Um…"

She hated getting attention called on herself, especially when it was bad. Alison liked attention a lot more than her, and even that wasn't much. "Or are you not actually busy doing math?"

Emily bit her lower lip nervously, and heard the sophomores around her smirking and chuckling. She was in an advanced math class, and she was one of three freshman in the class. She hated that. Focusing again on the teacher, she shook her head.

"Maybe you'd like to share what you've been drawing with the class?" the teacher snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "No? Then I suggest you put it away and start taking notes before I send you to the principal."

"Yes ma'am," Emily muttered, flipping the page in her notebook to the next blank page, where she started to copy down the stuff written all over the whiteboard. It seemed like lately she couldn't get Alison off of her mind at all. Winter break had caused everyone to slack a little, but Emily felt like school was now her biggest enemy. She didn't mind swimming, especially since Alison had that with her, but everything else just felt like things getting in the way of her being with Alison.

As soon as the bell rang, Emily let out a relieved breath and jumped up, hugging her notebook to her chest and rushing off to her locker. She always felt so small in this place—not that anyone really felt big. There were a few seniors that seemed to think they owned the place, but no one ever had to worry about them. They were harmless.

After going to her locker and trading her notebook for a lunch bag, she hurried off to the front of the school to find Alison. She found her sitting comfortably in their normal spot, her own lunch spread out in front of her. "Hey," Emily greeted, sitting across from her.

"Hey!" Alison's face lit up almost immediately from seeing Emily. "How was math?"

Emily groaned. "Why do you ask questions like that? You know I'll say that it was awful—which is was. How was French?"

"Same," Alison answered. "Mona Vanderwaal is back from her winter trip to Paris, and she's flaunting it to everyone. Her new clothes, her new shoes. She learned things in French that we haven't learned yet, and she's made it a point to teach them only to her little group of mindless pussies. They kept whispering to each other about whatever the hell it was and then giggling like they were sharing secrets. She was gone for two weeks! You can't learn how to say every secret in French after being gone for two weeks! And it's not like she learned anymore than to ask 'Where are the shoes?' and 'How many calories is in that?' while she was gone."

Emily tried not to laugh, because when Alison got into rage mode about Mona Vanderwaal, she scowled nonstop and there was a little wrinkle in her forehead that always made Emily smile. "She sucks," she said instead, though one side of her mouth quirked up.

Alison raised an eyebrow, her scowl gone. "What?"

"Nothing," Emily answered defensively, biting the inside of her lip. Alison now raised both of her eyebrows, waiting until Emily cracked and told her why she was smiling. "You're just cute, okay? It's not my fault."

Red rushed to Alison's cheeks as she lowered her eyes. It wasn't long before they flickered back up to Emily's though, a small smile now spread on her face. "You must've rubbed off on me," she answered coolly. Emily laughed as she began to eat her lunch, nudging her foot against Alison's under their table_._

**January 2011**

"How is there even a choice in these movies?" Alison asked, looking at the DVDs spread over Emily's bed.

"What do you mean? They're all different," Emily stated, tilting her head slightly.

"They're all romances," Alison stated.

"So? You said I could pick the movie, but I couldn't choose between those." Emily shrugged. "I mean, read the backs. They're all different."

"Not really," Alison argued. "Haven't you ever noticed that every single romantic movie or romantic comedy always has the same plot? Sure, little things are different, but they're all so freaking predictable," Alison whined. "There's not a single love story that isn't predictable."

"Disagree," Emily stated plainly. "Grey's Anatomy had a bunch of unpredictable love stories."

Alison shook her head. "Sure, but that's a TV show. Plus, they have so many seasons that they can fit in really dynamic love stories. But movies? They can't fit something epic into a two hour film."

"Fine, do you want to watch something other than those?" Emily asked, gathering up her DVDs.

Alison frowned. "No. I said you could pick the movie, so just pick one of those and I'll watch it."

Emily smiled proudly and leaned down to place a kiss on Alison's lips. "Thank you!" Alison chuckled, rolling her eyes, and waiting for Emily to put on the movie. When it started to play, they curled up together on her bed. It really didn't even matter which movie they watched, because Alison was asleep in minutes, curled into her favorite person.

**January 2011**

"Emily, your dad should be here in a couple of hours! Make sure your room is clean. I don't want him to feel like there's anything he has to do while he's here," Pam called up to her daughter.

Emily smiled to herself. "Okay, mom!" She hadn't seen her dad in months, and it was safe to say that she was incredibly excited. She had all sorts of things to tell him, like how she was doing on the swim team—excellent, that is. She had to tell him about the first half of her first year of high school. Mostly, though, she just needed to know that he was there for her, like always, despite being away most all of the time.

Emily finished cleaning her room, and then spent an hour texting Alison. The blonde seemed to be amused by how excited Emily was, but the brunette felt almost bad for talking to her about her dad. Normally, she wouldn't, but considering that the papers for Alison's parents' divorce had just been signed and completed. Alison didn't really seem to mind, though, and that was something that Emily loved about her best friend.

About forty minutes before the time that her dad was due to arrive, there was a quiet knock on Emily's door. "Come in!" Emily called. Her door opened to reveal her mother, who looked a little bit upset about something. "What's up, mom?"

"Your dad called," Pam answered, her voice strangely quiet. "He uh, got called into work, so he won't be here."

Emily's face fell, and she set her phone down on the bed next to her as she sat up to process this new information. "But… he missed Christmas, and New Years… he's not even overseas, why can't he come?"

"They need him down in Texas, Emily," her mother answered, although she sounded just as upset as the younger girl. "Maybe we can go visit him in Texas sometime. Maybe for the summer, we can go see him and Uncle Charles."

"Maybe," Emily agreed, though her voice portrayed the only emotion she was feeling—anger. She picked her phone up again.

"I thought maybe we could stay in for dinner, by the way," Pam added in a soft voice.

Emily shook her head. "I'm going to Alison's."

"Emily, this is not your father's fault, and it's not mine," Pam told Emily firmly, but the younger girl didn't care. Her phone in hand, she walked past her mom and started out of the house.

A bike ride later found Emily walking into Alison's bedroom. The blonde, sprawled on her bed writing in something, looking up suddenly. "Emily. What are you doing here?"

Emily bit down on her lower lip, because now she didn't feel angry—just sad.

"Isn't your dad going to be here soon?" Despite the question, Alison's tone gave away that she could already guess what had happened. "Come here," she cooed softly, setting the book she'd been writing in on her end table as Emily approached the bed.

They curled up together, Alison wrapping her arms around her best friend and stroking her hair.

"It's not forever, you know? Your dad… he's committed to training people who are going to defend the country," Alison said softly.

"Well, it sucks that he can't do it here," Emily muttered, a tear slipping from her eyes.

"Do you want to sleep over?" Alison asked, more as a formality, since neither girl really asked the other to sleep over—they just did. Emily nodded as another tear rolled down her cheeks. Alison hugged her tighter and wiped the tear away. "I wish your dad could be here for you, Em. You always get so happy when he's here."

Emily took a deep breath. "I wish both of our dads could be here," Emily said quietly.

Alison didn't respond. Emily had taken her by surprise—the blonde hadn't expected any mention of her dad leaving. In fact, she hadn't thought that Emily thought much about the fact that Alison's family was in shreds. It was, when Alison thought about it in hindsight, a stupid thing to think. "Me too," she finally agreed.

The next morning was Sunday, and Emily's mom was dragging her out to church, so she had to leave relatively early. Alison, however, stayed at her house. She grabbed her journal and started to finish what she'd been writing the day before. Her writing was interrupted, however, when she noticed a white hoodie resting on her desk chair. She got off of her bed to approach the sweatshirt, and noticed that it was Emily's National Guard sweatshirt. Alison hadn't even noticed that she'd been wearing it the previous day.

Making a mental note to return it to Emily the following day, Alison slipped the sweatshirt over her head and returned to her diary.


	5. February

**February 2011**

"Ten bucks says that she gives the anchor spot to Britney," Emily muttered, running her fingers through her hair. There had been an emergency swim meet called due to a change in lineup for the meet the following day.

"Are you kidding?" Alison demanded. "You have that spot in the bag. Twenty dollars says it goes to you."

"I hope you have that twenty on you, because I think I'll be in a caffeine mood after this," Emily muttered. "We have time to walk to the Brew before we walk home, right?"

"Why are you being such a downer?" Alison questioned, shaking her head. "You have just as much chance as any of us—better even!—to get this anchor spot."

"I guess… I just… my times are as good as any of the seniors in here, and they keep getting the spots. I mean, yeah, they're graduating this year, but if I was anchoring, the team would actually win a lot more," Emily reasoned.

Alison gave her a sad smile. "Well, too bad they don't all realize how impressive you are like I do."

Emily finally smiled—it was nearly impossible to do when Alison was being all sweet and nice. "Yeah, too bad you aren't the swim coach, huh?" Alison smirked and nudged her.

"Look, even if you don't get anchor, you can still be positive. I mean, as soon as you're not a freshman, you're going to be the anchor for every meet," Alison promised. "I'll even threaten Coach Fulton if I have to."

That got a laugh out of Emily, and Alison grinned, because she loved that she could always get Emily to relax. "But then you'd get kicked off the team, and swimming wouldn't be the same."

"Uh, did you not just hear what I said? I'm going to threaten the coach. She won't be able to kick me off the team," Alison stated matter-of-factly. Emily laughed against and shook her head.

"Whatever you say, Ali," she teased.

The coach finally entered the locker room, where all of the swim team girls were sitting around waiting—wondering if this emergency swim meet would involve actual swimming. Alison doubted it, though. "Sorry to call you all here unexpectedly. We have one change in line up for tomorrow's meet—Britney, you will be anchoring," Fulton stated, smiling at the senior, who broke out into a grin. Her less-than-able-to-anchor friends clapped for her, and the people who could easily have anchored only gave lazy claps. Emily wasn't going to clap at all until Alison nudged her to do so. "Next year, remember?" Alison reminded her, smiling.

Emily rolled her eyes, but she couldn't fight the small smile that appeared on her face.

**February 2011**

"Ali?" Emily called, glancing around the empty natatorium. It was getting late, and she wasn't exactly sure why the building hadn't been locked up yet. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she was here. Alison had texted her with explicit instructions: meet at the natatorium in ten. Ten minutes later, and here she was, but no Alison. "Alison?"

Suddenly, Emily felt two hands touch her waist and for a second, she tensed up and inhaled sharply—sure that some murderer had stolen Ali's phone and lured her here. It didn't take her long to recognize the touch, though, and completely relax as Alison slid her arms completely around the brunette. "Hi," Alison murmured, eliciting a smile from the other girl.

"Hey," Emily replied, melting into Alison. "What are we doing in here?"

"There's a debate competition happening in the cafeteria, so the whole school is unlocked for another hour at least," Alison explained as Emily turned herself around in her arms. They were now kissing distance apart, but Emily waited for Alison to finish talking. "So I figured that we could meet in here, since it's so cold outside."

Emily smiled, naturally leaning forward until her lips pressed softly against Alison's. Every time they kissed, Emily's insides jumped around with excitement, and her knees threatened to give way. Thankfully, Alison's grip around her waist was firm and protective. Emily loved that. Emily carefully pulled her lips from Alison's. "As long as we don't have to swim. I'm sore from practice."

Alison smiled softly, and her hands moved up from Emily's hips to her neck, where she rubbed Emily's muscles carefully. The brunette let out a relieved sigh at the feeling.

"Speaking of which, where were you at practice today?" Emily asked, tilting her head slightly.

A wide smile appeared on the blonde's face, and she pulled away from Emily to fumble with the pocket of her hoodie. When her hand emerged from it, she was clutching something. Emily felt a smile creeping onto her face. "I got us something."

Emily watched Alison unfolded her fist to reveal two carefully sewn, purple bracelets, with their names embroidered on each individual one. Dropping her own back into her hoodie pocket, Alison reached for Emily's wrist and pulled it up, before carefully clasping the bracelet. "It's awesome, Ali. Thank you."

Alison smiled and took hers back out. "Can you put mine on for me?" Emily couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face as she took the bracelet from Alison to carefully lock it onto her wrist.

They both admired the bracelets for a moment, and then Emily pulled Alison closer to her again, their lips meeting in a gentle kiss. When they pulled apart, Emily raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "You'll definitely be a practice tomorrow, though, right?"

**February 2011**

"Wanna hear a secret?" Alison asked the brunette, adjusting the position of her head resting on Emily's chest.

"Is it a real secret, or just a little secret?" Emily teased, smiling a little bit.

"Both?" Alison answered, smiling as well. "I put glue in Mona Vanderwaal's lip gloss today."

Emily's eyes bugged. "You did what?" Alison smiled devilishly as she readjusted her position again, getting more comfortable.

"I just wish I'd done it at the beginning of class instead of at the end so that I could see her put it on and flip out when she realized," Alison finished. "I bet she had a big struggle with it later."

"Will she know it was you?" Emily questioned, her eyes still wide.

"Please, Em, she doesn't even know I exist. She's a cool person remember? We are all the way down at the bottom," Alison stated, as if Emily had forgotten. "She'll probably think it was the nerd guy who sits next to her."

"Ali…" Emily's tone was naturally condescending sounding, because of course she disapproved of things like that. Alison nestled her head into Emily's boobs to cut off her words.

"Emily," she whined, "don't ruin the fun. She deserves it. She's a bitch to everybody."

The brunette couldn't help but smile as she ran her fingers carefully through Alison's hair. "Fine," Emily agreed. "It would be sort of funny to see her with her lips glued together."

"See? I'm not crazy!" Alison exclaimed, chuckling. "Her lips are so big too, it would be hysterical. Of course, she wouldn't find it funny. Not that she would be able to laugh about it with her lips stuck together if she did find it funny."

"You are horrible," Emily said, but she was giggling. "Seriously."

"But you like me anyway," Alison insisted, finally lifting her head and looking at Emily's face. She instantly leaned forward to capture her lips in her own, and Emily let an instantaneous sigh out against them. Her arm came up and around Alison's back, pulling her body completely on top of her, and deepening their kiss.


	6. March

**March 2011**

**Dear Emily,**

**Have you ever known exactly what you needed to say, but not been able to find the right words to get it out? Or… you have the words, but every time you open your mouth, only word vomit spills out? Shit that doesn't even make any sense? Yeah… that's sort of what's happening right now…**

Alison huffed angrily and crumpled up the piece of paper, letting her head fall into her hands. Lately, she really needed to talk to Emily about things that she was feeling. They had been… doing stuff for months, but she just couldn't get her feelings out—at least not the ones that were deep down and personal.

It was quite inconvenient actually, because Alison knew that she needed to say something to Emily about how she was feeling. Emily needed to say those things, too. And why shouldn't Alison be the one to start the conversation?

Honestly, she sometimes wondered if she was feeling more than Emily when it came to all of this. She was, after all, the first one to initiate a kiss between them.

Thinking about it, though, she knew that Emily felt something for her. It was plainly obvious to her. She just needed to hear it. So that she could know for sure that this wasn't just something that was happening in the absence of having people to date…

After thinking that through, Alison vetoed her letter idea and instead went into her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. "Emily, I think we need to talk about some stuff. I know that we have had things going on between us over the last few months… and I'm not saying that we need to define it, but… you know, I think we should talk about how each of us feels."

Alison huffed as she realized how much it sounded like a formal business proposal or something.

She would have to wing it, that much had become clear over the hours that she had spent trying to plan something. Emily was the person who made her feel so many weird and confusing things, so she knew that she would know what to say when it came time to say it. At least, she was pretty sure. And even if she did end up spilling out word vomit, she was almost positive that Emily wouldn't care at all.

And that's why she was sure that Emily was feeling these things back for her. She just needed to get around to saying them out loud.

**March 2011**

"What do you think life would be like if my mom was more like yours?" Emily mused, her fingers twisting through the thick, blond locks sprawled over her lap. Alison was across her bed, on her phone. Though, she couldn't do much on it, since she kept getting distracted by the feeling of Emily's fingers on her scalp and in her hair.

"Better," Alison stated surely, focusing her eyes on the internet search she'd made a few minutes ago. She hadn't even read the first result yet.

"Do you think we… wouldn't have to always be together like this in secret?" Emily asked, wholly aware of how quiet she was.

Alison felt herself tense for half a second at how hesitant Emily sounded. "Of course we wouldn't. We would be flaunting how great we are in front of everyone."

Emily took a shaky breath, dragging her fingers through a bit of Alison's hair and then pulling her hands out of the blond stuff. "I'm never going to get to be myself with her."

Alison gave up trying to do anything on her phone and tossed it across the bed as she sat up in front of Emily. "No, Emily. You will get to be yourself with her. And she'll learn to accept it, or she won't, and she'll lose you. Em, as soon as you're out of her reach, you should be who _you_ are."

Emily avoided Alison eyes as she choked out, "She will hate me."

"No, she couldn't," Alison insisted, raising a hand to gently touch Emily's cheek. Emily finally forced her eyes to meet Alison's. "Nobody could ever hate you, Emily. You're sweet to everybody, even when they're not sweet to you. I wish I was half as nice as you."

The brunette quirked up an eyebrow. "Are you serious? Ali, you at least as nice as I am."

Alison smiled. "Maybe when I'm with you, but deep down, I'm a bitch." She crinkled her nose a bit as she smiled at Emily, who rolled her eyes playfully.

"You are not a bitch," Emily argued, shaking her head.

"Watch, one day you're going to see that I'm only nice because I have you, and you'll leave me," Alison joked. Emily let out a laugh at how unrealistic that sounded.

"Ali, that wouldn't ever happen, because you will always have me," Emily insisted.

Alison quirked her eyebrow a fraction of an inch as she smiled. "Oh damn, I guess I'm stuck being nice forever." She leaned forward and stole a small kiss from Emily. As she pulled away, Emily pushed forward, keeping her lips attached firmly to the blonde's. Their small kiss became a harder kiss, and then their lips molded themselves together perfectly, their tongues moving between them as well. Emily felt herself melt internally, and she knew that she would never give this girl up.

**March 2011**

"School sucks," Alison announced loudly as she barged into Emily's room, startling the other girl.

"What's up?" Emily asked, her voice laced with concern, like it always was when Alison seemed distressed. "Did something happen?"

Emily had gotten a fever had opted to stay home for the day—even if it meant she had to miss swim. Alison, however determined to stay with Emily, had been force to go to school. "If by something you mean that I had no one to eat lunch with, then yes. Seriously. School has never been so intimidating than today, when I was literally walking around looking for a place to sit before realizing that it was either eat lunch alone or hide."

"What did you do?" Emily asked softly, getting up from her desk and moving to her bed, before opening her arms to Alison.

"I hid," Alison admitted, shaking her head. "I didn't want to be that one awkward person eating lunch alone." Emily briefly wondered where exactly Alison had "hid", but she didn't question it. Alison hopped onto Emily's bed and immediately cuddled into her. Emily secured her arms around the blonde. "I have just decided that if you ever have to miss school again, I'm going to ditch, or hide in the natatorium all day. I never want to have to experience what happened today ever again."

Emily smiled into Alison's hair. "Sounds like a plan."

"Are you still sick?" Alison wondered, breathing in Emily's scent and feeling oh so comfortable. Nothing was more comfortable than laying wrapped up in Emily.

"I feel a lot better," Emily answered.

"So are you going to school tomorrow?" Alison questioned.

Nodding, Emily answered, "Yep. You won't be all alone for lunch."

"Good," Alison breathed out, feeling tiredness coming over her and trying to coax her into going asleep here in Emily's arms. She was pretty tempted to do so. "What do you think we should do all summer?" she asked, instead of giving into the sleep.

"You're already thinking about summer?" Emily asked. "It's March."

"Of course I'm already thinking about it," Alison stated, smiling slightly even though Emily couldn't see her face since she was curled into Emily. "I think I'm going to get my mom to take us to a beach somewhere. The lake is cool, but beaches are way better."

"As long as I can come," Emily said in a sing-song voice, as if there was any chance that Alison wouldn't invite her to come along.

Alison giggled and lowered her face, burying it into the top of Emily's shirt. Emily let out a shocked gasp as the blonde began placing little kisses along the top of Emily's breasts. She hadn't been wearing a bra, since she hadn't left her house, and was suddenly thanking herself for it.

When Alison brought her teeth down on Emily's skin, dragging them across some of it slowly, Emily felt her breath officially becoming ragged, and she tore away from Alison. It was only for a second, though, as Emily basically ripped off her shirt and brought her lips down to Alison's.

After a rough kiss, Alison pushed them up and over, so that she was straddling Emily, and she bypassed Emily's lips to go back for her chest. Placing kisses, dragging her tongue around, and finally closing her lips around one of Emily's nipples. She played with it using her tongue inside her mouth, and Emily let out a low moan. Alison loved hearing the sound, and it encouraged her to lightly bring her teeth down on the nipple. Emily hissed and moaned again, but before anything else could happen, they heard the noise of a car parking in Emily's driveway.

Alison immediately pulled up and off of Emily—the sound of Pam Fields' car had become the biggest sex-prevention of all. Emily grabbed for her shirt and carefully slipped it over her head, her breathing still uneven. "This sucks," Alison muttered, looking at Emily's now covered chest.

"I know."

**March 2011**

"Do you wanna come over after practice?" Emily asked, nudging the blonde. "My mom isn't home."

Alison flashed Emily a smile as they walked into the natatorium. "Of course I do!"

"Fields!" Fulton called, and Emily looked in her direction.

"I'll be right back, Ali," Emily said to the blonde, who just smiled and headed into the locker room. Emily went to where the coach was standing. "Yes, Coach?"

"There's been a slight change in tomorrow's line up," Fulton said slowly, her voice sounding slightly intimidating. Emily, though, was used to it. She raised her eyebrows slightly, wondering if someone had passed her as being second to last. But then, a smile appeared on the Coach's face. "I hope you're ready for your first time in the spot light. You will be anchoring for the Sharks tomorrow."

Emily's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Thank you, Coach!"

Fulton just gave a small smile. "Get in there and get changed, Fields. You had better be ready to swim tomorrow."

"I'm always ready to swim, coach," Emily exclaimed, her smile widening as she hurried into the locker room. Her locker was right next to Alison's, and so the blonde immediately noticed how excited Emily was.

"What did Fulton say?" Alison questioned, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"I'm anchoring tomorrow!" Emily exclaimed. Alison's eyes lit up.

"I told you that you would get the spot, Em!" Alison exclaimed, pulling her thick hair up into a bun—something that Emily had seen her do hundreds of times and still didn't understand. How could all of that gorgeous hair fit into a bun?

"I guess you were right," Emily commented, slipping off her shirt as she started to change. She didn't miss Alison's eyes dropping over her body as she leaned against the lockers, just watching Emily change. When Emily was completely changed into her swim suit, she said, "You're such a perv, Alison."

Alison just batted her eye lashes at the brunette, who smiled widely. "Come on."

After practice, Emily stuck in a few more laps while the other girls were getting dressed, and Alison just sat on the side of the pool with her feet in the water, waiting. Everyone else was gone by the time Emily climbed out of the pool and padded into the locker room, Alison in tow.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Alison asked as Emily slipped off her wet swim suit and began to dry off with a towel. Emily, grinning, nodded.

"I really didn't think I would get to anchor until at least next year," Emily admitted.

Alison just smiled. "I knew that you would get it this year. You're amazing, Em." Emily felt her cheeks heat up at the compliment, and she set her towel inside her locker. Alison's eyes raked over Emily's naked body shamelessly. "Also, beautiful."

Now, Emily's face was deep red. "Not as beautiful as you."

Alison batted her eyelashes at her, and then met Emily's lips with her own. Their kiss immediately began to heat up, and Alison pushed the naked girl against the lockers, her hands immediately scratching down her body. Emily felt her entire being awaken as Alison touched her, and she let out a quiet moan.

Soon, though, Emily had to push Alison off of her. "Ali, let me get dressed and we can finish this at my house."

Alison bit her bottom lip and nodded, pulling away and leaning her back against the lockers as Emily quickly got dressed. It was then that they rushed back to Emily's house, already later than they had planned since Emily had stayed after practice. Luckily, when they got back, Emily's mom was still not yet home.

Upon entering Emily's bedroom, they immediately tackled each other onto the bed and their lips met passionately. Emily's tongue was practically tied into Alison's as their make out session began to get extremely heated. Alison pushed up a bit, and then flipped them so that she was on top. Taking over the kiss, she let her hands roam down Emily's toned body. Simultaneously, Emily's hands gripped Alison's thighs tightly, eliciting a moan from the blonde.

Just as Alison's hands began to travel up under Emily's shirt, a door could be heard opening, and Alison pulled up off of Emily faster than ever before. Both girls had their eyes trained on Emily's door, where Pam Fields stood, her eyes wide and a look of horror covering her face.

"Mrs. Fields—" Alison started, her voice already shaky. She was cut off before she could continue.

"Alison, go home."

"Mom," Emily snapped, sounding as though she might break into tears already.

"Go home, Alison!" Pam demanded, her voice ten times louder now, and a look of anger on her face. Alison, frozen, found Emily's hand and grabbed it. She didn't want Emily to be alone right now, and Emily definitely didn't want to be alone. Sitting up completely, Emily opened her mouth to say something—anything—to her mother. "Alison Lauren DiLaurentis, go home right this second!"

Alison jumped at hearing Pam's voice so intimidating. Emily, feeling rage toward her mother, nudged Alison. "Go."

Alison didn't need to be told another time, but she felt incredibly guilty as she passed Pam and hurried out of the house. If she could get home fast enough, she could probably get her mom to come and help save Emily from whatever horrible punishment Pam would have. Alison could already think of one—those horrible "rehab facilities" for gay people.

Halfway home, though, Alison was already in tears. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she felt horrible for leaving Emily alone. She had no idea what was going to happen now.

"Mom… please don't freak out… I can explain," Emily started as she heard the front door close.

"You can explain?" Pam Fields snapped angrily. "You cannot justify this, Emily Fields. That girl has corrupted you and dirtied your mind. You will not see her again."

Emily's eyes widened, and then rage overcame her. "She didn't do anything to me! I like girls, mom! That's who I am! It's not something that Alison spread to me like a disease!"

"I raised you right, Emily! You could never be that sort of abomination," Pam spat. "I know who you are, and that is not who you are!"

"You are a coward, mom!" Emily exclaimed. "You are a coward who isn't strong enough to even admit that for a second, I'm not the perfect little girl that you always forced yourself to see me as!"

Her mother was clearly very angry by now. "Emily Fields don't you dare talk to me like that! You have been corrupted in more ways than one by that little bitch! I refuse to let her corrupt you even more!"

"No matter what you do, mom, I will still be gay and will still like girls!" Emily yelled, tears falling from her eyes by now. "And I will still be in love with Alison!"

It was the first time that she'd said it aloud, and it wasn't even to Alison. Her mom's eyes widened by a tenfold, and she opened her mouth to say some other horrible thing. Emily, though, bolted past her mother and out of her room. She silently thanked herself for pushing herself in the pool lately, because she managed to get outside, on her bike, and down the road before her mom could catch up.

Emily wasn't exactly sure why her mom didn't chase her in the car. All she knew was that she was biking to Alison's house as fast as she could, her heart racing. It could have been hours, or mere seconds, that it took Emily to get to her destination. She wasn't sure.

She didn't even knock on the DiLaurentis door—she just barged into the house. Alison, who was sitting nervously on her couch, immediately jumped up. "Emily…" her voice trailed off as her mother rushed into the house.

"Emily, are you okay?" Jessica demanded.

Alison gave Emily a look that told her that she had told her mother everything. Emily just looked between the two and then broke down in tears. Alison immediately approaching her and grabbed her in a soft hug. "It'll be okay, Em," Alison whispered, though her voice was shaking.

"N-no. She think that y-you d-did it," Emily sobbed.

Alison's heart was racing, and she had never felt more terrified in her entire life. She carefully led Emily to the couch, sitting them both down. Emily immediately just curled into the blonde, still crying. "Should I make tea?" Jessica asked softly. She got a shake of Alison's head in response, and she just nodded. Yes, it had been quite strange to have her daughter rush into the house in a fret, and then to hear that she had been in a relationship with her best friend for months. Jessica hadn't been too surprised, of course, considering how close the two girls always were. Still, the shock of the entire situation at the moment had been quite overwhelming.

"Ali…" Emily wanted to say something, anything, as her tears died down, but she couldn't get any other words out.

"You don't need to say anything, Em," Alison cooed, stroking the brunette's hair. "Everything is going to be okay."

Emily shook her head, because no, it wasn't going to be okay.

It wasn't more than twenty minutes later that the front door of the DiLaurentis house busted open. Pam Fields stood there fuming, her eyes on her daughter wrapped in Alison's arms. Emily's eyes widened at seeing her mom, and she jumped up off of the couch. Alison stood as well, clinging to her best friend.

"Emily Fields, you get out of this house right this second," Pam growled.

"Pam, are you sure you want to do this?" Jessica DiLaurentis stepped in, holding her hands up as if asking Pam not to attack her or some shit like that.

"I'm taking my daughter away from this screwed up family! Your daughter is sick, Jessica!" Pam snapped. Jessica's eyebrows shot up, and Alison's eyes widened. Emily clung to the blonde even more.

"Do not talk about my daughter that way you bigoted bastard!" Jessica snapped. Pam didn't say anything in response as she stepped around Jessica and grabbed her daughter's wrist.

"Ali!" Emily squealed as her mom pulled her away from the blonde. It occurred to her suddenly that she hadn't said what she had meant to say the minute she'd bust into the house.

"Emily!" Alison shouted as she pushed past her mom and followed Pam and Emily out the front door. "What the hell are they doing? Emily!" Alison cried. She tore her arm from Jessica DiLaurentis' grasp. This wasn't okay, and she needed to do something about it. Something, anything… she couldn't stand to watch her Emily be torn away from her. When Pam Fields had caught her and Emily together, and had so unceremoniously sent Alison home, she had no idea what was going to happen, and when Emily came on her bike… Alison now found herself terrified. All she could think about was losing the one constant in her life—the one person she'd known would always be there for her. The feelings she had developed for her best friend earlier that school year had increased by a tenfold and now they were making her heart hurt even worse in this moment.

"Stop! Ali, I—" Emily's voice cut off as she called for Alison. Pam Fields dragged Emily into the car, despite Emily's struggling. There had never been a moment that Emily had truly hated her mother until right now. After Emily had taken off from her own house less than an hour ago, how could Pam think that this was going to help in any way? Couldn't she at least listen to what Emily had to say first? Emily mentally cursed herself for not having done something about this earlier—though she wasn't exactly sure what she would have done if she'd had the option to say anything at all. Her mother would think the same way about all of this whether she had told her sooner or not.

"Alison, dear, calm down please…" Jessica DiLaurentis pleaded to her daughter. The woman did not at all agree with what Pam Fields was doing to deal with this newfound situation. Jessica herself had no problem with anything going on, as long as her daughter was healthy and safe. And frankly, she had no problem with Alison and Emily being themselves. Jessica would never judge anyone for being who they were, especially if they had no control over who they were—which no one really ever did.

"Calm down? Are you serious? Emily!" Alison felt tears burning in her eyes. How could her mother expect her to calm down right now? If the suitcases tied hastily on top of Pam Fields' car were any indication, this wasn't going anywhere good. Alison stared hard at it for a moment, noting that Emily's uncle visiting—who lived somewhere near where Wayne Fields was stationed—was driving. Was that what was happening, were they going to Texas? Alison didn't think she could go through that… and to think, just earlier they had been in their own perfect little word, kissing each other as though there was nothing that could stop them. Just earlier, before they had been so rudely interrupted by the only person who could truly put an end to their… thing they had going on—the person who was now dragging Emily away from Alison.

"Alison!" Emily wailed. She didn't understand how her mom could be doing this to her, and she wasn't even sure what this was. Yes, she saw the car once she came outside at first, but why were all of their suitcases strapped to the top? It finally dawned on her, though… they were taking a trip… and maybe a longer one than Emily would care for. Emily could hear her mother cursing under her breath at Alison as she got into the passenger seat of the car. How could her mom be blaming Alison, though, for who Emily was? It was likely that she was too cowardly to admit that her daughter could be for a second different than most girls, and she had to blame someone else for the discrepancies.

"Alison, please, come inside. I'll make you tea," Jessica suggested, willing Alison to come with her. She was trying desperately to keep Alison from running frantically toward the other teenager. If it hurt to watch Alison go through this, she imagined it must be a lot worse for the younger blonde. When her daughter had come home distressed, following by a frantic Emily, Jessica had not been sure what to expect. Now, though, it seemed to all be fitting into place—she could make a pretty good guess as to what had happened to drive Pam Fields to this point.

"No! They can't do this!" Alison screamed. When had her mom reclaimed her grasp on Alison's wrist? Alison needed to do something, or she would lose Emily, she just knew it. She couldn't lose Emily. Emily was all that she really had going for her. In fact, she had been literally about to say that to Emily when a certain Pam Fields had unceremoniously walked in on Emily and Alison in a slightly compromising position. Alison realized that the same thoughts were rotating through her mind in a constant loop, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to stop that loop unless she got Emily back before she was torn away forever.

"You can't stop them, I can't stop them. Come inside." It pained Jessica to say this to her daughter. Unfortunately, it was true, there was nothing they could do to stop Pam and Wayne Fields once they made their mind up about something. If there was, she would go through with it in a heartbeat. She loved Emily like a daughter, but there wasn't anything she could do. Not a thing that she could do besides to hold her daughter in place and keep her from making things worse for Emily.

"Emily!" Tears rolled freely down her cheeks. Alison could hardly stand to watch as Pam Fields dragged her daughter into her car, but she wouldn't tear her gaze from Emily. She couldn't. She had too many things that she still needed to say to her. Alison tried to promise herself that one day, she would be able to say everything. She just wanted to feel Emily's lips on hers, and to list all of the feelings that Emily ignited when they kissed. She knew that the chances were so slim… but she knew that she wouldn't be able to survive if she never got to see Emily again.

"Alison!" Emily tried to convey her emotions into the name, hoping that Alison might understand what she was trying to say. She had so many things to say to Alison before they were torn apart forever. So many things that she may well never get to say. In this moment, Emily could think of dozens of things that she wished she could say. The first one that came to her mind was "I'll miss you"… but she knew that there were more. One stood out beyond all of the others, a handful of words that Emily had been waiting to say… a handful of words she may now never say. The last thing she could do as the car began to drive down the street was stare back at the blonde and say the three words over and over again in her head. I love you. I love you. I love you.


End file.
